An 8th round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 1990, Thomas ‘TD’ Woods played college ball for the Tennessee Volunteers from 1986-1989. At 5’6″, 182 TD was one of the smallest speedsters to hit the gridiron. He caught 124 passes for 1617 yards and 7 TDs, and 60 punt returns for 656 yards and a TD as well. After not making the final roster of the squad, TD was selected by the Barcelona Dragons of the WLAF. In 1991 he caught 20 passes for 223 yards, returned 13 kicks for 263 yards, and returned 9 punts for 123 yards.
In 1992, Woods became the primary receiver after the departure of Gene Taylor. He caught 51 passes for 546 yards, and a barn burning 86 yard TD. Thomas was also the primary punt returner, with 19 punt returns for 147 yards.
He returned to Tennessee and finished out his degree in 1996. Since that point, TD has spent a lot of time at the college level as a wide receivers coach for Appalachian State, Western Carolina, Mississippi, Jacksonville State, Tulane, and Eastern Illinois.
TD has two cards in the Ultimate World League 1992 set. I had hoped he’d sign both of his cards, but I was happy to get one of two out of him, after searching high and low for years, for his address.
Frank Ginda played linebacker for the San Diego State Spartans from 2015- 2017. He started as a true freshman, and his numbers improved every year into his Junior campaign. In 2017, he led the NCAA in tackles with 173, and had 13 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 3 pass deflections. Frank finished his college career with 351 total tackles, 29 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, 4 pass deflections, and an interception for 16 yards.
Frank was not selected in the 2018 NFL Draft, and after a quick stop in Arizona, joined the Miami Dolphins. He had an outstanding preseason finale against the Falcons, but was one of their final cuts.
Frank returned home where he joined the Alliance of American Football signing with the San Diego Fleet. Behind the Fleet’s nasty 3-4 front, Frank led the team with 41 tackles- posting 4 for loss, 2 pass deflections, and a forced fumble against SLC that led to a TD recovery- despite only starting 2 of 8 contests. He also set the league record for tackles in a game, recording 15 against the Memphis Express, in their March 2nd contest.
” We all just bought into the system and we all dialed in and knew how much we wanted to play in the NFL. There were guys that played multiple years. There were guys that played preseason like I did and there were guys that didn’t play at all. Everybody bought into the system and bought into the playbook.”
-Frank Ginda
After the AAF folded, Frank didn’t stay unemployed for long. He’d be selected by the New York Guardians of the XFL 2020, where Ginda finished with 11 tackles and a sack in 5 contests.
Frank signed this awesome card of his and dropped a nice note on the back of it thanking me for my support.
Samkon Gado is one of those rare athletes who wasn’t really on the radar of scouts going into his final year playing college ball. In fact he was looking forward more to becoming a doctor than playing football, but as fate would have it, nearly the entire Liberty runningback corps was depleted, and Samkon stepped in and ran for 901 yards on 138 carries, scoring 11 TDs in 9 games.
It was all about being at the right place, at the right time for Samkon, and it seemed that scouts identified his intangible talent for rising to the occasion. After going undrafted in 2005, he was signed to the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad for a brief time. A month or two later, he was signed by the Packers. Then nearly the entire runningback stable went down one by one due to injury. First Ahman Green, then Najeh Davenport, and then finally Tony Fisher.
Gado saw extensive playing time in their absence after taking the starting runningback role. He’d have 3 100 yard efforts during the season, and set a franchise rookie record rushing for 171 yards against the Lions. Ultimately he too would end his season on injured reserve.
With new management in town for 2006, the Packers traded Gado to the Houston Texans after Week 1 of the season for Vernand Morency. The Texans were shoring up their runningback depth behind Ron Dayne and Wali Lundy. During the season he’d pitch back to back 60 yard efforts against Jacksonville and Buffalo.
In 2007, Ahman Green also joined the Texans runningback committee, and was the starter above Dayne. Gado beat out Lundy to make the final squad, scoring his first TD with the Texans in the season opener against the Colts.
He’d be cut at the end of October, and signed with the Miami Dolphins, after starting RB Ronnie Brown went down. Again, backup Ricky Williams, then himself also was fallen by injury, so Samkon had to step in again. He’d help contribute to the Dolphins only win on the 2007 season.
Samkon then played for the St. Louis Rams over the next two seasons, but saw little action outside of special teams. In 2010 he signed with the Tennessee Titans but did not make the final roster.
Samkon finished his medical degree and now is a doctor at Saint Louis University Hospital as part of the Otolaryngology program.
G/GS
RUSH
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
41/8
268
972
3.6
11
64
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
LG
43
292
6.8
1
35
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
